The resistance against chain migration, nepotistic immigration

President Donald Trump and Democratic leaders have reached an understanding on protections for young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children. That's the word Thursday from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. (Sept. 14)
AP

Catherine Bejerana Camacho is a Filipino-American attorney; raised on Guam and licensed to practice in Guam and California. She specializes in both employment and family-based immigration law; corporate law and family law.(Photo: Bayanihan file)

MABUHAY & HAFA ADAI! During the first week of August of this year, United States Senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue introduced the “Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy Act,” popularly known as the “RAISE Act.” Then during the second week of September of this year, United States Congressman Lamar Smith introduced the House companion of the RAISE Act. This House Bill is entitled the “Immigration in the National Interest Act.” The intent of both Acts is to change the composition of immigrants who will enter the country, from family members of current permanent residents or United States citizens, to young, skilled, and educated foreign nationals.

Additionally, during September of this year, President Donald Trump expressed his desire to push for a bipartisan legislation to address the plight of the 'dreamers' (an individual who was brought into or entered into the United States as a child and may have overstayed his or her visa or was uninspected by immigration officials at entry to the country). At the same time, however, the President remained firm in his position against the ability of these dreamers to then legitimize the stay or file petitions on behalf of family members who themselves were not dreamers.

As you may glean from the legislative and executive activities noted above, there is a growing resistance against chain migration or nepotistic (family) immigration. These two terms may have different meanings depending on the context of its usage. For the purpose of our present-day immigration discussion, however, both terms point to immigration policies, which have resulted in the continual immigration of family members extending beyond the nuclear family.

The present immigration law structure is driven by the concept of family reunification. It allows individuals to petition various members of their family who are foreign nationals. Under the present immigration law structure, a permanent resident has the ability to file a petition on behalf of a minor child, spouse, and an unmarried adult child. If the unmarried adult child has minor children at the time of immigration, those children can also immigrate.

Additionally, a United States citizen has the ability to file a petition on behalf of a minor child, spouse, parents, and, unmarried and married adult children. Under a single petition, the spouse and minor child of the petitioned adult child can also immigrate with the originally petitioned individual. In instances where a member of the family is not able to accompany their parents under the original petition (because he or she aged out), the new immigrant may file a petition for those family members left behind. Thus, an individual who successfully immigrates to the United States has the ability to cause a “chain” of migration of a great number of family members.

In the context of the plight of the dreamers, there appears to be a general consensus from both parties that some sort of legislation needs to be passed to address their status. However, the reason why no dreamers act has successfully been passed is because there is no general consensus as to what rights and benefits are to be conferred to these dreamers. Should these dreamers be given a permanent resident card or a pathway to citizenship or just the ability to work and reside here legally? If these dreamers are given the ability to become permanent residents or citizens, does this then open the pathway to legalizing the status of the dreamers’ family members who were not themselves dreamers. This could potentially mean millions of other immigrants in the future. President Trump’s stance against chain migration merely highlights that tension.

If the RAISE Act and its companion House Bill, “Immigration in the National Interest Act,” pass and are signed into law, there will be dramatic change in the composition of the new immigrants who will enter our country. For clarifications on how proposed immigration legislation will affect you or family’s case, a consultation with an experienced immigration attorney is recommended.